Trivia / Ikaruga

Tropes

• Ascended Fanon: There are some known score runs of the game where a person will "Double Play" by controlling both ships at once (famously seen here by the player known as "VTF-INO"). The PC version has a built-in feature allowing players to play single-player with both ships at the same time using one controller.
• Bad Export for You: The Nintendo GameCube version of Ikaruga is the only one that does not have the introduction text for each chapter.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: Contrary to popular belief, the Boss Warning Siren^note WARNING: The big enemy is approaching at full throttle. According to the data, it is identified as "Butsutekkai". NO REFUGE never changes. "Butsutekkai" is referring to something else and is not the name of the chapter boss. Eboshidori, the Chapter 1 boss, gets misnamed frequently.
• Working Title: "Project RS2", which was the first hint that Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun are, in fact, part of the same Continuity.

Miscellaneous Trivia

• Ikaruga is the first Treasure video game to have an official "Superplay" video produced for it.
• The primary game mechanics of Ikaruga hail from Treasure's earlier games: the chaining system is a modified version of the one used in Radiant Silvergun, while its Reverse Polarity mechanic was first utilized in Platform Game Silhouette Mirage.
• The in-house development team consisted of five people:
  • Hiroshi Iuchi — lead game designer, background designer, and music composer; is also the director of Radiant Silvergun
  • Atsutomo Nakagawa — main programmer
  • Yasushi Suzuki — illustrator and character designer; is also the lead artist of Sin and Punishment
  • Satoshi Murata — sound effects creator and edited the game's background music data
  • Masato Maegawa — executive producer; also Treasure's founder and Chief Executive Officer
  • Further support was provided by employees of G.rev, the developer of Border Down and Senko no Ronde
• As a result of the avian Theme Naming, the etymology of the names of all ships in the game are:
  • Ikaruga → Japanese Grosbeak
  • Ginkei → Lady Amherst's Pheasant
  • Toratsugumi◊ → White's Thrush
  • Utatsugumi◊ → Song Thrush
  • Renjaku◊ → Japanese Waxwing
  • Torafuzuku◊ → Long-Eared Owl
  • Ajisashi◊ → Common Tern
  • Ikusa◊ -> Common Crossbill
  • Misosazai◊ → Winter Wren
  • Toki◊ → Crested Ibis
  • Shigi^* Chapter 3 mid-boss → Sandpiper
  • Chougenbou^* The large Fake Ultimate Mook ships from Chapter 5 → Common Kestrel
  • Eboshidori^* Chapter 1 Boss → Knysna Turaco
  • Bupposo^* Chapter 2 Boss → Oriental Dollarbird
  • Uzura^* Chapter 3 Boss → Japanese Quail
  • Misago^* Chapter 4 Boss → Osprey
  • Tageri^* Chapter 5 Boss → Northern Lapwing
• Treasure's official website features cross-platform leaderboards for the Xbox 360, NESiCAxLive, Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 versions, which can be found here.

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